Larisa Iordache
Larisa Iordache (born June 19, 1996, in Bucharest, Romania) is an artistic gymnast. She won four medals at the 2010 European Championships (one gold, two silver, and one bronze) and six medals at the 2011 European Youth Olympic Festival (three gold and three silver). She's also the 2012 European Champion on floor exercise and the 2013 European Champion on balance beam. Junior Gymnastics Career Iordache started to train for gymnastics at CSS Dinamo Club in Bucharest at the age of four and a half. In 2008 she became a member of the national junior team were she trained with coaches Ramona Micu, Adela Popa, Cristian Moldovan and Lacramioara Moldovan. She had a successful gymnast career medaling at various international competitions. 2009-2010 In 2009 she won the prestigious Top Gym Trophy. At the same competition she won gold on beam, bronze with the team, and placed seventh in the uneven bars final. The series of successes continued at the 2010 Romanian International Championships where her scores on beam and on floor were the highest of all the gymnasts, including the senior ones. Later that year she was a member of the junior team at the 2010 European Championships. Here she tied for gold on floor with Anastasia Grishina, won silver on beam and with the team, and bronze all around, and placed fourth on vault. 2011 In 2011 she won several all around titles at international competitions such as the Gym-Festival of Trnava (59.500) and a dual meet against Great Britain (58.300), and she scored 58.800 to lead the Alliance Dijon Gym 21 club to first place at the French championships. The highlight of the year was the win of six medals at the 2011 European Youth Olympic Festival among which three gold medals (all around, beam, and floor) and three silver medals (team, uneven bars, and vault). Senior Career 2012 Iordache competed at the 2012 American Cup in New York on March 3rd, her first international meet as a senior gymnast. She placed third, ahead of her compatriot Diana Chelaru, who placed fifth. Iordache also competed at the Doha World Cup, where she placed fifth on uneven bars behind compatriot, Diana Bulimar. In May, Iordache was named to the Romanian team for the European Championships. She posted the highest score on uneven bars for her team. The Romanians won the gold medal. Individually, Iordache won silver on balance beam and gold on floor exercise. On July 7th, Iordache was named to the Romanian team for the Olympics. That same weekend, Iordache compated at the Romanian International Friendly. She won a gold medal with the team and won the all-around ahead of compatriot Sandra Izbasa. Prior to qualifications, Iordache had been diagnosed with an inflammatory condition of the foot. It was rumored she would not compete the all-around because of it, but she stated she would. During qualifications, Iordache did in fact compete the all-around. She qualified to the all-around in eighth place. During the team final, Iordache competed on every event except floor exercise. Her performances helped Romania win the bronze medal behind the United States and Russia. Originally, Diana Bulimar was meant to participate in the balance beam event final, but was pulled out and replaced with Iordache. She scored a 14.200 and finished sixth. Iordache was scheduled to compete at the Stuttgart World Cup in late November and the Glasgow World Cup in December, but pulled out due to injury. 2013 Iordache was scheduled to compete at four World Cup meets: the American Cup, La Roche-sur-Yon World Cup, Cottbus World Cup (with teammate Diana Bulimar), and Doha World Cup. However, Iordache withdrew from the first three competitions. In Doha, she won gold on balance beam, and silver on floor exercise and vault (with a double twisting Yurchenko and full twisting Tsukahara). At the end of March, she was named to the Romanian team for the European Championships. Going into the European Championships, Iordache was one of the favorites for the all-around title, and even more so after qualifying first into the final. However, she placed second in the final to Russia's Aliya Mustafina. She won another silver in the vault final, tied with Netherlands' Noel van Klaveren, a gold on balance beam, and silver on floor exercise. Category:Romanian gymnast Category:2012 Olympian Category:European Floor Exercise Champion Category:European Team Gold Medalist Category:European Balance Beam Champion Medal Count Floor Music 2012 (before Olympics) - "Tamacun" by Rodrigo y Gabriela '2012/2013 - '"Guitarria" by Benise Trivia *Iordache's nickname "Pikachu" came from the yellow leotard she wore at the 2012 European Championships that someone said it reminded them of the character Pikachu from the anime series Pokémon. Iordache later wore the same leotard in the balance beam event final at the Olympics and during the all-around event at the 2013 European Championships. Category:Romanian gymnast Category:2012 Olympian Category:European Floor Exercise Champion Category:European Team Gold Medalist Category:European Balance Beam Champion